"Jailhouse Blues;" "Young Woman's Blues;" "Backwater Blues"

Songs

By: Bessie Smith

Date: 1923–1927

Source: Smith, Bessie. "Jailhouse Blues" recorded September 21, 1923. Copyright 1931 (renewed), 1974 by Frank Music Corp. "Young Woman's Blues" recorded October 1926 on Columbia 14179-D. Empress Music, 1927. "Backwater Blues" recorded February 17, 1927, on Columbia 14195-D. Lyrics reproduced in Davis, Angela Y., Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. New York: Pantheon, 1998.

About the Musician: Known as the "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith (189?–1937) was born into poverty in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Orphaned at a young age and raised by siblings, Smith earned money as a street musician and started touring with a vaudeville show as a dancer in 1912. A protégé of legendary blueswoman "Ma" Rainey, she eventually became the most respected African American singer...